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The first was from Pittsburgh via the GAP trail to Cumberland, MD then mostly U.S. 220 to Bedford, PA where I picked up PA Bike Route S. Took that all the way to Lancaster County where I modified the route to get me home in a nicer fashion. I also cut out a big climb out of Betzwood, PA by riding the section of the abandoned PA Turnpike, which is an unofficial bike trail and was used as one of the filming locations for the film "The Road" starring Viggo Mortensen. . I highly recommend it as long as you have a good light and are not afraid of the dark. There are two long tunnels (the longer being over 1 mile) with no lights. The second tunnel heading east has a crown closer to the east portal, which means for much of the distance you literally cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. The nice thing is that you can still see the median striping inside the tunnels so you can use that as a guide.

The second trip started from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport near Vienna, OH. Made my own, nice route to Franklin, PA where I picked up the scenic, paved (except for maybe 3/4 of a mile) Allegheny River Trail for about 25 miles to Emlenton, PA. From there, I followed PA Bike Route V all the way to Rupert/Bloomsburg and then headed south via my own route, which included the abandoned town of Centralia. Depending where you might want to go in NJ, you could stay on Bike Route V all the way to the end at Portland, PA and cross the river there into Columbia, NJ via the pedestrian/bike bridge.

Overall, the PA portion of the latter trip was nicer (and more challenging) than the former. Both routes had pretty well-spaced camping (There is free, trail-side camping with Adirondack shelters in Franklin, PA, right along the river. Saw two bald eagles in the morning.) and access to good grocery sources along the way, although in many instances I hard to carry groceries for some miles as there were no stores close to my camping locations. Let me know if you would like detail on one or both of the routes.

Go to Google Maps and search "campgrounds near [name of town]". Zoom out if you don't get any results.

Be prepared for cold, and possibly wet, weather in mid-September. When I did the Northern Tier we had some nights in the 40s and cold rain one day. Frost a little further west in Boonville. That was in mid-August.

If you want to eventually visit Manhattan keep in mind that the only way to ride there is via Fort Lee, NJ and the G.W. Bridge. But there are plenty of public transit options, including ferries from various NJ cities.

Out of curiosity, have you gotten a weight on the LHT? My ex-GF is 5' even and has a non-disc, 42cm LHT, 2011 vintage. I would be surprised to learn it weighs 28-30 lbs. (8-10 lbs. more than the Terry).

When I have seen something significant I have said something. By significant I mean things like the closing or opening of a campground or the closing of the only grocery store around. If it's the closure of something like a restaurant in a town or city that has alternatives, I usually don't.

If I will be camping somewhere with few services around, a practice that I like to follow is to shop for groceries in a place where there are more services and then carry to my destination. This worked extremely well one day on the Great Parks South route. The map showed a store close to my destination, but I shopped in a larger town maybe 10 miles away in case the other place closed early or wasn't open that day. When I rode past the store closest to the campground I saw that it had burned to the ground. A worker at the campground told me the fire had happened only a few week prior. Two years ago, while riding part of the Trans Am, I shopped at the good grocery store in Darby, MT and carried for some 18 miles in case the store at the Sula campground was not open when I arrived. Sure enough, I arrived two minutes after closing time, and the place was locked up tight.

On the accessibility front, bar ends (which I use) can present problems shifting on rough roads. When I crossed PA a few years ago there were a couple of days with big rollers on roads with crappy shoulders in places. Several times I wanted to shift during descents and the transitions to the next inclines so I could keep up momentum but I didn't feel comfortable taking my hands off the bars due to the poor road conditions.

Do the geometry in your head. Something full length and non-inflatable that is even a mere 1" thick is going to be bulky when folded or rolled. You are not going to find such a pad that packs down to a size comparable to an inflatable.

Do the geometry in your head. Something full length and non-inflatable that is even a mere 1" thick is going to be bulky when folded or rolled. You are not going to find such a pad that packs down to a size comparable to an inflatable.